Chosing a montly rental fee

[KENDRA J.]

Hi
I am a newbie here and hope someone can be of help. Husband and I own several rental houses and may be purchasing a condo to rent out also. Husband thinks we should be automatically raising rent every year on tenants (good ones that pay on time) due to the rental increase in our area. I feel we should keep the rents the same to hold these tenants. Any thoughts on how some of you price.
One more question. I just put one of our rentals on craigslist Sunday night and have received zero response. The ad has the rent listed higher in the top bracket price for rentals in our area (it's a nice property in a good area). Typically i receive at least a few responses after 3 days on craigslist. How long should i wait to lower the price (husband thinks i should wait several months but i disagree) ? The property is vacant and i myself would rather price it lower and have a bigger prospective tenant pool to chose from and hopefully have someone who will stay loner. Any thoughts on this?
Thanks

[Jon Holdman]

In my experience (limited) above market rents result in bad tenants. The ones who are willing to pay above market because they have few alternatives. Price it at or a bit below market and you'll get a better candidate pool.

I sure wouldn't give up three months rent trying to get 10% above market.